Bone fracture fixation may involve the anchoring of bone fragments to a rigid support that is outside or inside the bone. Typical supports include (a) a plate that is screwed to the outside of the bone; and (b) an implant that is inserted inside the bone.
Therapeutic use of a support depends reducing the fracture and holding the reduction during administration of the support. Typically, a clinician inserts pins in the bone fragments and reduces the fracture by moving anatomy adjacent the bone fractures directly with hands. Another clinician then braces the pins, in a procedure known as external fixation, using wholly external pins that run between the inserted pins. The wholly external and internal pins are joined at junction members that are secured by set screws.
The use of direct manual reduction and bracing pins with junctions offers limited control over bone fragment positioning and may involve numerous manual tasks that may be difficult to coordinate in such a manner that a reduction is efficiently achieved and properly held.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for preparing a fractured bone for repair.